This invention relates to automatic guns and more particularly to a new lightweight gun system to serve as the main armament of naval combatant small craft.
An urgent need exists within the Navy for new and effective but lightweight weapons systems, for application to surface ships in general and for arming a new generation of naval combatant small craft in particular. A specific requirement is for a more lightweight, accurate, and lethal armament which can provide both surface-to-surface and surface-to-air capability in the destruction of a large variety of targets. At the present time there appears to be no existing gun system, missile system, or hybrid weapon system which exhibits the necessary performance characteristics to adequately satisfy this requirement, yet still is small enough and light enough to fit the small craft platform. The excessive size, weight, and recoil forces of existing high performance weapon systems preclude their use on small craft.